England · Oxford

Day 3 | Christ Church, Tom Tower, and Oxford Town Hall

Emily

We started the day by enjoying breakfast in the hotel restaurant. It was quite good! Upon ordering a macchiato, Adam was informed that they didn’t have those, but they had double espressos with foam on top. I was informed (being a non-coffee drinker) that this is, in fact, a macchiato. So it seems he got what he wanted anyways.

Considering we’re over here for Adam’s conference, he headed off to that for the morning, while I came back to the room to start today’s blog post, and figured out what I’m going to do for the day.

I ended up deciding to walk into town and go see Tom Tower.

 

On my way into town, I encountered some fun little signs. For those not “in the know,” the words on the lights are a deference to J.R.R. Tolkien and his Lord of the Rings trilogy.

 

Tom Tower is a part of the Christ Church at Oxford University. The Tower is named after the bell within it, Great Tom, and was built from 1681-82.

 

Tom Tower, seen from the other side of Tom Quad.

 

This is from within the cloister, looking up at one of the towers.

 

This is the interior of the cathedral. There is a lot of beautiful stained glass work within, but it was difficult to capture photos that would do them justice.

 

The Meadow Building houses the entrance to the church for sight-seers.

 

Afterwards, I made my way to the Oxford Castle and Prison. However, it seems you need to have a scheduled tour to enter, and I didn’t feel like waiting around for the next one to start. This will probably make the schedule later this week.

 

Wandering around on my walk home, I found this cute little street, and loved the contrast of the bricks with the sky.

 

After the morning/afternoon classes for Adam, and my exploring Oxford, we headed back into town for a Welcome Reception for the conference. This was held at the Oxford Town Hall, which had some beautiful interior architecture.

 

The Oxford Town Hall, where the Welcome Reception was held. It was a room full of nerds…and Emily.

 

Here, we were joined with Austin again, as well as another of their coworkers, Jason. The four of us went to the Cuttlefish for dinner after the reception. Yes, the place was chosen solely because of its name. Food was very good.

Lastly, the night comes to a close. Back home for the night, and we start anew again tomorrow.

Total steps: 16,683

 

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Emily and Adam

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